Merdven-Kayas — 5. "False Start"

Massif: Merdven-Kayas (Khergiani) 856 m. Difficulty: 5B, VI, A2. Authors: Tsushko T., Khomenko A. Year of route creation: 2008. Number of pitches: 7. Length: 320 m. Route description: From "Chertova lestnitsa" (Devil's Staircase) follow the upper road approximately 1 km east, then take a dirt road to reach the campsites, and then follow a trail to the wall. The start of the route is a long cleft with a tree in its lower part.

• R0–R1 45 m. Up the cleft cutting through the entire lower bastion. The cleft is partially destroyed. There's an intermediate bolt at the 15-meter mark.
• Belay station on a bolt (spit) and own protection points.
• 10 m IV–V; 35 m VIA2 R1–R2 55 m. First, follow the cleft for 35 m, then exit through a chimney onto an inclined ledge. Traverse left and up along the ledge to a tree; belay station at the tree using spit anchors + cams. List:
• 35 m VIA2
• 10 m V

Merdven-Kaya­sy — 6B «Ek­spromt»

Massif: Merdven-Kaya­sy (Khergiani) 856 m Complexity: 5B Author: A. Geni­ush, Kudryav­tsev Year of creation: 2008 Number of pitches: 7 Length: 300 m Time to complete: 4–6 hours Route description: Long, logical, classic route. From the "Chertova lest­nitsa" (Devil's Staircase) along the upper road approximately 1 km east, then along the dirt road to the parking area, then along the trail to the wall. The start of the route is from a large pine tree. R0-1 60 m. Start from the tree to the right 3 m, then up the slab to a weakly expressed depression and further to the left up the corner overgrown with grass, exit to a tree. Then slightly left and up — approach to the internal corner. Further along the internal corner, exit to the top of a spall. Belay station. There is a bolt. Characteristics:

• 45 m III
• 10 m V+
• 5 m IV

Merdven-Kayasы — 7. "Relax"

Difficulty: 5B VI A2 Author: Lav­ri­nen­ko A., Kuz­men­ko A. Year of creation: 2008 Number of pitches: 8 Length: 375 m Time to complete: 5–8 hours Route description:

• From "Chertova lest­nitsa" ("Devil's Stair­case") along the up­per road ap­prox­i­mately 1 km to the east
• Fur­ther along the dirt road to the campsites
• Fur­ther along the trail to the wall. Start­ing point is near a large pine tree. The route goes along the bastion to the right of the Geni­ush route, in the up­per part it con­verges with the T͡Sush­ko and Geni­ush routes. R0–R1 60 m. Start from the tree to the right for 3 m, then up along the plane to a weak­ly ex­pressed mul­da and fur­ther to the left up­ward along the cor­ner over­grown with grass, reach the tree. Fur­ther slight­ly to the left and up­ward — ap­proach to the in­ter­nal cor­ner. Fur­ther along the in­ter­nal cor­ner, reach the top of the spall. Sta­tion. There is a bolt.

Merdven-Kaya­sy — 8. "Odessa Express"

Massif: Merdven-Kaya­sy (Khergiani) 856 m Complexity: 6A VI A2 Author: Lavri­nen­ko A., Tsush­ko T. Year of route creation: 2008 Length: 365 m Route description: From the "Chertova lest­nitsa" (Devil's Staircase) along the upper road approximately 1 km east, then along the dirt road to the parking areas, then along the trail, and then along easy rocks and talus to approach the wall. The route passes through the center of the bastion, then crosses a belt of simple rocks, moves left under a clearly visible gap cutting through the summit tower. And through it, it leads to the yayla. R0–R1 40 m

• Through simple rocks
• Left upwards
• Reach a sloping grassy ledge Station on juniper. 2B R1–R2, 40 m. From the station upwards — left, along a slab into a reclining angle with grass (there is a bolt). Along the angle, left upwards, to a small tree, then through an internal angle to reach a small ledge. From the ledge upwards and slightly right, through a system of cracks to a narrow ledge — here is the station.

Merdven-Kayas — 10. “Made­ra Krymskaya” (380 m, 5B, F6b+, E3, A2) — No bolts.

May 19, 2009 Yura Kruglov is climbing the second rope of the route. The second rope is a song. On Sunday, May 17, we ascended a new line on Merdven-Kayas (10 minutes walk along the upper road to the east from Chertova Lestnitsa). The route is “Made­ra Krymskaya”. It was because of this drink that, finding myself among stitched abstainers on Saturday evening and unnoticedly drinking it alone, I had to deviate from the previously planned line of the intended route in its upper part the next day. But even as it turned out, the “Madera” route more than justified my expectations.

Approach to the route, history of the place, descent, and our recommendations

The lower part of Merdven-Kayas wall was a popular training spot for climbers back when the upper road wasn't yet called the upper road. Buses between Sevastopol and Yalta would speed by on it. It's hard to imagine now... Among climbers, the lower part of the wall was known as “Khergiani rock.” The approach from the upper road to the foot of the wall takes a few minutes. These minutes can be shortened by car via a dirt road branching off the asphalt towards the wall. The road leads to a clearing with a great campsite. From the campsite to the start of the routes, it's less than a minute of slow walking.

Morcheka, left side. "Zmeika" Route 6A0

Zmeika, 6A (VI+A3) Lavri­nen­ko A., Maxi­men­ya A., Yare­chev­sky V., 2002 (Upper part (R7–R9) was climbed by the rope team Ershov — Savochokin in 1980–1989) Start is between "Ded83" and "Classica", there is an inscription.

Route Description:

0–1 Along a slab with blind slots and shell-like cavities under a slightly overhanging "belly". Further left for 2 m to a ledge, and through the "belly" - 2 holes for a skyhook, then along the terrain (there are 2 drilled holes):

• move to a chip,
• climb up along it,
• then climb along the slab,
• reach the belay station. Bolt + own pitons. 40 m

Mshatka — Kaya-3

Along the left inner corner of the western part of the massif («Fork»), 2B (200 m, III) (by K. Rybal­ko and V. Khi­tri­ko­va, 1973) The approaches to the route start from the upper highway 50 m below the alpinist parking located under the central part of the Foros Cant. Upwards and slightly left at first along the trail, and then along simple rocks to a wide vague inner corner, which "cut through" the entire wall of the massif (R0: 300 m, 45°, no cat.). At the R1–R4 section — upwards first on the left along a 20-meter inner corner to a large trapezoidal ledge of the wall, and then along a sheer wall to a tree (R1–R4: 40 m, 65°, III+). At the R2–R4 sections — first upwards along the smooth slabs of a wide inner corner to the

Mshatka-Kaya — 14

Hi-Res photo of Mshatka-Kaya "Ryzhiy vyval" ("Red landslide") — the green line on the photograph

Mshatka-Kaya "Ryzhiy vyval" (55)

Route by Yu. Lishayov ("Fantik"), Crimea Back to the main page of "Mshatka-Kaya. Three routes" Author: Alexander Lavriyenko ("Odessit"), Odessa The route passes to the right of the central bastion of Mshatka-Kaya. It is visited extremely rarely. The beginning coincides with the "Treugolnik sleva" ("Triangle on the left") route. Having passed along the "Treugolnik" for two ropes (50 m 70IV and 50 m 60III),

Mshatka-Kaya — 15 h

Author: Aleksandr Lavri­nen­ko, Odes­sa

“Not That Way!” 5B 270 m 6c A3

T. Tush­ko — A. Lavri­nen­ko, Feb­ru­ary 2007 The idea was to fol­low a big cor­nice to the right of “Ryzhiy Vyval” (The Red­dish Out­burst); pho­tos gave hope

• as a crack was vis­i­ble along the cen­ter of the cor­nice. Up close it turned out to be not a crack, but a scar from a de­tached boul­der. Hav­ing said good­bye to a beau­ti­ful idea, but sav­ing a dozen bol­ters and avoid­ing a cold over­nigh­t, we reached the sum­mit via a com­plex zig­zag. The ap­proach and first 2 ropes coin­cide with the “Treugol’nik Sleva” (Tri­an­gle on the Left) route. 2-3

Mshatka-Kaya — 21

Centre of the eastern bastion, 5a

From the upper road, ascend simple rock to the right part of an overgrown shrubby inclined terrace located under the eastern part of the wall. The route starts 20 m east of the beginning of the right "side" of the Triangle (R0: 300 m, 30–50, easy — I). On the R1–R2 section:

• from a narrow inclined ledge on the left side of a small, not clearly defined counterfort to a pine tree
• then up steep walls to a tree (R1–R2: 40 m, 70°, III). Then up through the centre of the bastion. The landmark is a 20-meter internal corner with a tree